All Forum Posts by: Chris Armstrong

@Jeff Russell

You need to understand what the NOI is on the property and talk with broker about what a reasonable cap rate would be. From that you can get an idea of the value of the property. Then consider any deferred maintenance that has been well deferred and make adjustments accordingly.

Also, really look at the property and see if there are any value add opportunity to make more money by increasing NOI. Again NOI/Cap Rate (in decimal form) =Value (based on Income Approach)

@Shray Patel

It depends on how you feel about leaving things unfinished. If you quit then you have wasted your time and money that you have spent up to this point. If you carry on and push through, then decide that you want to work in Real Estate then you at least have a fall back should things change. 

No you dont need anything except a good plan and network to get into real estate. 

If you work really hard you can do both at the same time, it wil show that you are committed and can handle high work load and stress. 

Just my $0.02

Hello BP

Quick question for you all who like to manage and track your expenses with accounting software. Does anyone have a sample chart of accounts for a short term rental business for Quickbooks software? I am going to start using that and I was going to see what to model my books after. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

context

I was using only a MS excel spreadsheet and the need to see accurate and up to date P and L statements as well as other data points was the driver for the change.

@Account Closed

It depends on what "beach" you are on when the "tide" rolls out what you see. LEts just hope that the deals were analyzed property in context of worst case scenario so that when worst case scenario happens they still have pants on, especially if we are talking about a buncha old guys or old women....or european tourists..........  

Powerball, Powerball, Powerball.

@Jonathan Jaime Velarde

I would house hack using the $22K as a down payment on a multifamily unit and live a frugally as possible for several years until I had enough money to rinse and repeat (possibly several more times). The fact you are military opens a door using VA loans. Your 401k is cool but not significant enough to use with only 16K in it, keep that thing working in the background for you at a later time. Then proceed to take over the world one multifamily unit at a time. BOOM

@Account Closed

The answer to your question is simple. We build force fields around everything or we evaporate the oceans until there is nothing left but salt. 

@Tim Marquess

You can go on airbnb and see how much she is getting for the rents going forwards. I would only let her keep doing it if she would profit split with me on top of paying rent. If you are taking the risk with the property you should be compensated 100%. I would also make sure that you are covered in terms of any insurances that you might need in case of accidents. There are several examples of property owners being sued even though they had no idea their properties were being used for airbnb. Sticky situation. 

@Parker Grissom 

I didnt read others responses but if I had a large sum of money left to me I would learn the areas that I wanted to invest in pretty well. I would build a network of people who are currently doing what you want to do and learn from them before you buy. I wouldnt spend all the money in one pass either, I would buy a property, get it up and running for a little bit and then analyze how my deal actually came out versus how I planned it to come out. If it worked well, then repeat the process. 

I would avoid ANY financial advisor who is paid commission based pay. You want someone who is going to have your best interest at hand, not their commissions. Flat rate fee or hourly is best. There are many many wolves out there waiting to take the money you inherited, dont let them. 

LAstly read, read, read......

Would this be a vacation rental aka short term rental? You will need to make sure that you are operating within the jurisdiction of the county you are in for those types of investments. That being said, if numbers are good, and you can fill the condo with renters then go for it. Make sure you are properly accounting for the increase in taxes you will encounter, also make sure that if the property is in HOA covenants that renting is permitted and if doing short term make sure thats permitted as well. Nothing sucks more than having an army of HOA people sending you letters to stop operations especially if you did you numbers based on short term rent expectations. HINT HINT do the calculations on long term rent expectations just in case stuff changes after you take ownership.

Id be happy to chat with you about this off line if you PM me, I have several properties that I use short term within HOA communities and all is going well. @Rhonda Crockett 

@Troy Gandee I just closed a deal with John Florence and he was a good guy to work with. Thanks for the feedback. We had a serious problem with our mortgage company though and that is what i was really struggling with.